THE ROAD :

Movies have made the best out of the post apocalyptic future genre. Mel Gibson became a star with the first MAD MAX film. During the early eighties, films featuring bands of marauding gangs played drive ins across the land and ended up on video. But these looks into the future, while violent, never seemed as bleak as THE ROAD does.

We’re presented with a story that moves back and forth in time, showing us what was, what happened and what is now going on. Viggo Morensen is the Father, a man who has taken on the task of trying to protect and raise his son in a world that has fallen apart. No reason is given, but the world has changed. Animals have disappeared, plant life is all but gone leaving barren woods and fields and food is in short supply.

On occasion, the earth continues its decay with a tremor or full blown mini-earthquake while they travel. But worse than this is the packs of people, remnants of humanity gone wild who travel along preying on the weak. These people not only have clung together to track down people, they have taken on the habit of eating them as well just to stay alive.

Traveling south and west, Father is trying to get his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) to a safe place. Following the road southwest and heading for the coast, the pair comes across a variety of people and places. A family that keeps people in the basement to eat when they need. An old man (Robert Duvall) on the same road who they share a meal with. A thief who takes their possessions but expects mercy when caught. All play a part in the story of what humanity remains in these two characters.

In flashbacks, we learn of Father’s wife (Charlize Theron) who was pregnant when it all began. While others afterwards took the suicide path rather than face the new world, Father convinced her to have hope and carry on. But this eventually resulted in her resenting the fact they brought a child into this new world as well as his not letting her leave on her own terms. What happens with her is predictable, but sad none the less.

As Father and Son travel the byways of a once prosperous world, they witness buildings falling into ruin, highways crumbling apart and an entire world that offers nothing more than the colors gray and brown. But the pair travel on.

The movie is not so much about how to survive in the world after. It is a character study of two people, father and son, who are attached not just genetically but through a deeply bound love of one another. Father is not in the best of health and knows his days are numbered. His role is to train his son to survive, to carry on, harboring that fire within oneself that holds on to the remains of humanity. The question is always there and the son asks it now and then:”Are we the good guys?”

The movie doesn’t involve itself with a straight structure moving forward with a nice neat ending. Instead it tells the tale of these two while involving the viewer at the same time. And before the final reel, you find yourself caring for them both, hoping for the best and knowing deep down that the happy ending seems further away no matter how far down the road they travel.

Mortensen is a force to be reckoned with. He IS this character. He brings to it a depth that digs beneath the surface, displaying the deep love this father has for his son and the fears of what will happen when he is no longer there. Smit-McPhee does an equally admirable job, especially for an actor so young. His range may not be as deep, but his performance of a young boy trying to cope with a tumultuous world is one that is more than believable.

All in all, this post apocalyptic world seems more real than any previously seen. No leather clad bad boys driving around on souped up death machines. No trading centers where people barter services for goods. This is a world where people do what they can to survive. But at its root is the question is all that’s left is just surviving? Or is there something more to staying on this earth than simply existing? The only person that can answer these questions is the viewer. Because each and every person who watches must answer the question on their own.